You Haven't Lost Yet

"Rin wasn't talking about herself, big brother."

Yae Rin's melodious sigh gently echoed in her ears, and the Stigmata on her back glowed slightly, the lines outlining the cherry blossom pattern revealing a faint radiance.

A life that should have vanished in an instant was forcibly kept alive by the warmth transmitted from within the Stigmata.

He's still alive, but he's lost all his leverage.

This was an undeniable defeat.

"I can feel what my older brother was going through at that time. Knowing that he was destined to fail, it must have been very painful for him."

"He had already tried so hard to overcome the trials of evil thoughts to get here, but when he couldn't pull out the Divine Key the first time, he already knew this would be the outcome."

"Because you can guess that the Divine Key is not such a simple thing; it can resurrect humans who have been dead for a long time. How could such Divine Key be pulled out by mere brute force?"

After losing his arm, the medium for evil thoughts was completely severed, but due to the severity of his injuries, Su Qing'an was almost speechless.

But in the end, he still spoke up.

"Rin... I'm sorry for ending it this way."

It was a hoarse and low voice, spoken so softly it was almost inaudible.

A layer of glass-like haze had clouded the boy's dark eyes. He leaned against the still unmoving scabbard, maintaining his half-kneeling posture, which looked extremely unsightly.

His entire body was covered in open wounds, and the blood seemed to have dried up completely. The remaining blood covered his tattered body, making it hard to imagine what was keeping this boy alive.

A girl emerged from the Stigmata, her silhouette hazy and indistinct. She gently embraced the boy's battered body, her youthful face etched with sorrow and grief. She whispered in Su Qing'an's ear:

"It's okay, big brother has already tried his best."

His consciousness was almost sinking into the darkness of nothingness, but an inexplicable will stubbornly dragged him away from sleep.

Even at this point, his inherent stubbornness prevented him from giving up.

Lin's words resonated in his heart, but Su Qing'an felt somewhat disappointed. He realized that he hadn't been able to keep his promise. He had always been like this, every single time.

Whether it's strength, luck, or fate.

Defeat, defeat, defeat.

Defeat after defeat.

He couldn't keep his promise, nor could he protect St. Freya Academy behind him.

Is this the only end that awaits a talentless human like him in such a cruel world?

I hope Hua comes back soon; only she can defeat an opponent of Herrscher level.

But I'm still a little worried. Her strength is constantly dwindling. Under these circumstances, facing such an enemy, will she really be alright?

Kiana, Himeko- san, Yuno...

I hope everyone is safe and sound.

And then there's Headmaster Theresa... In the end, he still couldn't save her...

A torrent of thoughts swirled in his mind, all of which surged forth after Su Qing'an believed he had been utterly defeated, almost instantly overwhelming and covering the pain emanating from his body.

"Don't be sad. Even now, your big brother isn't sad for his own sake. He's hopeless. Such gentleness doesn't belong in this world."

Lin's voice was like winter snow falling on my cheek, seeping into my heart and soul.

Su Qing'an sensed the helplessness in the girl's words.

He said softly:

"So I'm going to die soon."

But... I don't regret it.

How could he regret it? His decisions have always been as resolute as a sword blade, unwavering and unyielding.

Besides, he shouldn't regret it; if he does, it means you think the decisions you made before were unworthy or wrong.

However, Su Qing'an never thought she made a wrong decision, nor did she feel that the decision was not worth the price she had to pay.

He did nothing wrong, he just... lost.

Rin said with a hint of helplessness:

"Yes, that's just the kind of person my older brother is."

"But that's precisely why Rin doesn't want her older brother to die."

"So, let's leave the rest to Rin."

"Big brother, all you need to do is swing your sword as before."

Su Qing'an was somewhat bewildered; the gray mist in his eyes still lingered. But for some reason, the moment Lin spoke those words, he knew he had to respond.

"Simply swing your sword."

He repeated the words the girl uttered, word by word.

"Simply swing your sword."

He continued, his voice barely audible yet brimming with a dazzling, golden will.

The girl hugged the boy tightly, but the illusory arm simply passed right through her.

Sure enough, I couldn't hold him...

Rin glanced at her hands with some regret, then looked at the handsome face smeared with blood and revealed a bright smile.

She said:

"That's right, big brother should just wield the sword. This kind of thing should be left to Rin. It's Rin who's being selfish. It's Rin who's arbitrarily forcing big brother to do something he clearly can't do."

Her voice grew softer and softer, her last words barely audible.

"So, in the end, let's leave this to Rin."

Yae Rin released her hands, no longer holding Su Qing'an, and chose to leave.

The girl approached the katana and murmured:

"The Divine Key was created using Rin's body, so how could it reject a part of itself?"

"If it were me, I could make my older brother pull out this knife."

The boy's vision had long since blurred, but he could hear Rin's voice gradually fading into the distance, as if it were from a very, very far place.

Perhaps, it's a place I'll never be able to reach again in my entire life.

Sensing unease through her overly keen intuition, Su Qing'an pressed her throat and squeezed her vocal cords to shout:

"Rin! What are you doing?"

It was a hoarse voice, filled with confusion, unease, and a sorrowful sense of foreseeing the outcome.

She turned to Su Qing'an and smiled, a smile the boy was destined never to see.

It was a very innocent, lovely smile, tinged with a touch of sadness.

I can't give the gift to my sister in person, and I won't be able to see her anymore. It's natural to be sad.

But if this could bring her the ending she desired.

That's not bad, right?

Yae Rin gazed intently at the boy's appearance, as if trying to etch this person carefully into her memory.

Then, she said her goodbye:

"Big brother didn't Broken Promise, and neither did Rin."

"I feel very lucky to have met a human like you, my older brother, after such a long time."

"If you're an older brother, Rin hopes you can find happiness."

"So, stop thinking about those messy things. You can't have thoughts like 'I don't care about my own life.'"

"At least, if you die, Rin will be very sad to find out."

Goodbye... Su Qing'an.

The girl pronounced the boy's name for the first time, and placed her hand on the hilt of the knife.

Her figure vanished in an instant, like a fleeting bubble, or like the setting sun, shattering bit by bit into even more illusory light with incredible speed.

Light surged into the Divine Key, and the hilt, which was originally painted with a demon mask, was covered by other forms.

Those were fallen cherry blossoms...

Ukiyo-e prints featuring cherry blossoms completely obliterated the demon mask.

Yae Rin used everything she had to transform into a brand new sword hilt.

Su Qing'an shouldn't have been able to see it, but for a moment, the image of a butterfly withering into [Ashes] flashed through her mind.

A heavy rain fell on the Mind Lake. The boy stood on the frozen surface of the lake, his black hair soaked and plastered to his forehead. He looked up and let the rain fall into his pupils.

He didn't blink; icy raindrops streamed down his face.

"Tick-tock."

Raindrops pounded on the lake's surface, making the frozen lake appear as if it were churning up towering waves.

Emotions, like a massive tide, dragged the boy into the depths of his Mind Lake.

The Inner Demon is awakening; it has already devoured all emotions, and now it also wants to devour its master.

Su Qing'an.

Outside, the Stigmata on his back had faded, and the cherry blossom pattern had vanished, but a warm power surged forth from it, transforming into a pair of hands that pulled Su Qing'an back from the depths of his Mind Lake.

"Big brother, all you need to do is swing your sword as before."

That was Rin's voice, but were those words recorded within the Stigmata, or was it the real Rin speaking?

It doesn't matter anymore.

The light pierced through the grayness in his eyes, and the boy stood up without a word.

His body was theoretically no longer able to support his movements, but Su Qing'an stood up anyway.

My body feels so light, it must be because all the blood has drained away.

But it's okay, I can still wield my sword.

Willpower, like a thread, controlled the body; the obsession with wielding this sword became the sole driving force.

The boy gripped the brand-new hilt, drawing the Divine Key with the ease and grace of picking up a thin sheet of paper.

The blood-red blade looked as if cherry blossoms were falling.

He could almost smell the fragrance of flowers in his nostrils, and for a moment he felt as if he were in a grove of cherry blossoms falling softly.

It's so beautiful!

Looking at the cherry blossoms on the hilt of the sword, Su Qing'an suddenly felt that the cherry blossom pattern on the Stigmata was also very nice.

Thinking this, the boy swung his sword at the core of the evil thought.

His movements as he wielded the katana were slow and weak, like those of an old man nearing the end of his life.

The wound twisted and became more grotesque with each movement. The blood had dried up and run dry, so even this extremely difficult movement couldn't squeeze out any more blood.

The knife in his hand was as light as paper, but picking up a piece of paper was an extremely difficult task for Su Qing'an at this moment.

The warrior's body had already largely solidified, and his posture, existing between reality and illusion, was beyond human reach.

In just a short while, the demon formed from evil thoughts will be resurrected.

But as the blade sliced through, the unpredictable power of the Divine Key disregarded the ethereal nature of evil.

A bewitching crimson blade of light slowly descended, slicing through the core-shaped object woven from fine purple threads.

The evil thoughts that had clung to the bone for 50,000 years, like maggots that could not be driven away, melted away like snowflakes in the sunlight.

The samurai, about to be resurrected, lay scattered on the ground like an empty shell without a skeleton, and all the remnants of evil vanished as if from an illusion.

The scene before me is so simple it's almost a joke.

The twelfth Divine Key, Jizo Mitama, is now fully completed.

After unleashing this sword strike, the thin thread of the boy's will seemed to have exhausted its last bit of strength and snapped.

Su Qing'an collapsed.

His broken body collapsed awkwardly to the ground.

The Divine Key held in the boy's hand also vanished, disappearing in a flash of light.

They should be going to find Yae Sakura, that's good, this ending is enough.

Headmaster Theresa is safe, and St. Freya Academy is safe too.

That's enough.

But Rin... I'm afraid I'll have to make you sad.

He should have died long ago; he is now nothing more than a ghost forcibly remaining in the human world.

The Tenshukaku gradually began to tremble.

The Stigmata Space is on the verge of collapse.

Su Qing'an's consciousness began to sink endlessly into darkness...

The Stigmata Space has shattered.

Standing in a vast white space, Yae Sakura, as one of the masters of the Stigmata Space, foresaw the final outcome.

She stroked the Divine Key that had come to her side; its familiar scent and the cherry blossom-decorated hilt overwhelmed the Miko with a mix of emotions.

Are you Hiyori or Rin?

Yae Sakura was puzzled, but she quickly understood.

It's not important.

For the past five hundred years, she had been protecting herself, and in the final moment, she sacrificed everything, just to earn the right to continue living in this world.

"I'll call you Rin. I don't know why, but I can sense that you like it when I call you that, right?"

The Miko murmured to herself, and in the end, made a choice completely different from the path of fate.

The knife emitted a low, eerie hum, as if in response.